The Bleeding Doll Case
by canikostar99
Summary: John has a case involving mysterious illnesses and comas. Mai has dreams about a shadow man and bleeding dolls. John's in danger, and SPR needs to solve his case before it escalates further. "Doesn't John seem unusually fatigued lately?"
1. Prologue

Dim candle light barely illuminated the small room. A girl stood in the middle of the room, looking around in the near darkness. Her bright green tank-top and white pajama pants seemed to glow slightly, and her short brown hair lifted as though gravity couldn't quite affect her. Her reddish-brown eyes warily observed the twelve figures in front of her. Glassy eyes stared back blankly from artificial faces, matte porcelain mimicking the appearance of skin. _Life size dolls._ Eight girls and four boys were artfully displayed in a semi-circle, five sitting politely in dining chairs in the first row and seven more standing behind them. Many were foreigners of varying ethnicity. All of the dolls were dressed in loose white clothing, as though they were patients in a hospital. The youngest of the group seemed to be about thirteen, a boy with startling green eyes. He had wild dark hair and clear olive skin, and his expression was permanently set in a grinning combination of confidence and mischief. The oldest was a woman who still appeared to be in her early twenties. She had soft features and light brown hair tied in a neat bun. Fair skin, gray eyes, and a gentle expression completed her appearance. Every doll in the group was gorgeous and strikingly detailed, so that it was hard to tell they weren't real people. The girl startled as humming began behind her, turning to see the source of the sound.

Another doll was laying on a large wooden workbench, the complex ball joint system exposed without the loose white outfit to cover him. For some reason, his features were blurred to the point where she could only make out blond hair and fair skin. A shadow leaned over him, painting red symbols on his chest. The shadow man didn't seem to notice the girl sharing the room with him. He stepped back, and a thin dual-toned whistle pierced the air. The girl covered her ears at the noise, feeling it vibrate through her teeth and echo unpleasantly in her head. It built, despite her attempts to block it out, until she was teary-eyed with pain before it abruptly cut off. The doll on the table convulsed violently, back bowing until it threatened to break. Bright blue eyes snapped open, and jointed hands clenched as wrists pulled at restraints. It looked for a moment as though the doll would tear itself to pieces trying to reach the symbol drawn on his chest. Then, just as suddenly, it was limp and lifeless again. While it seemed as though whatever the shadow man was attempting to do had failed, he merely chuckled at the doll.

"Very soon, you will be my masterpiece." The girl watched on, disturbed by the development until a soft clicking at her heals and a small tug caught her attention. There was another doll on the floor beside her gripping the hem of her pajama pants, one with fiery orange-red hair and fair skin. If not for the cracks riddling her form, her cheerful and energetic grin would have blended in with the other dolls. Red bubbled up among the cracks, dripping down the doll's face and arms and staining the white dress. _Blood!_ It was horrifying, seeing the doll's face petrified in an expression of cheer while her posture begged for help. The girl lurched back with a cry of shock, bumping into a tall figure behind her. Turning, the girl found herself outside the room. She was in a warm, dark space with bubbles of light floating up around her. The tall figure was someone she knew, and he watched her with gentle concern as she calmed down slightly.

"Gene." She let out a relieved sigh, taking in familiar dark hair and blue eyes. "I don't understand. What did I just see?"

His pale face expressed deep sadness and concern as he responded. "Mai. John is in danger."

Mai snapped awake, staring at the red 3:12 am on her alarm clock. _John is in danger._


	2. Chapter 1

Case File xx: The Bleeding Doll

August Monday 10:32 am  
17-year-old girl with short brown hair stretched and yawned as she entered the office, her eyes still shadowed with exhaustion. _My name is Mai Taniyama, and I have a rather strange job._

"Mai, you're late. Make Tea," an 18-year-old boy with black hair and pale skin ordered. _That's my boss, Naru. He goes by Kazuya Shibuya, but he's actually the famous Oliver Davis, a psychic researcher with powerful Psychokinesis. He runs Japan's sector of SPR, the Society of Psychical Research, but that's kind of a secret. To our clients, SPR stands for Shibuya Psychic Research, a company that investigates paranormal activity. Basically, we hunt ghosts. We actually just finished a case Thursday. It took a while to complete, so Naru let me have a three day weekend._ Mai can only thank routine for successfully making tea. She surely wasn't awake enough to think about what she was doing. Either Naru didn't notice, or he didn't care about his assistant's current state of consciousness. He simple left her to filing the notes on the most recent case. Something about picking up the manila folders triggered a memory of what kept her up most of the night.

"Oh! Hey, Naru? Are you going to look into that case John is working on?" He'd just been about to step into his office with some of his notebooks when he looked back at her. _John Brown, a catholic exorcist we've worked with on several cases, couldn't join us on the recent case because he was working on a case of his own. Teens and young adults in some of the neighborhoods of foreign workers are falling into comas, and there's no explanation or treatment._ _Just before our most recent case, John came to the office to ask Lin some questions. They also exchanged a few emails and phone calls during our case. I didn't hear much of what they were talking about, but Lin offered to help once we finished the case we were on. We didn't expect this case to run so long, so everyone was really tired. I don't think anyone has talked to John after we got back._ Naru _'s_ deep indigo eyes narrowed as he answered her.

"No. Unless John asks me to help with his case, it is none of my business. Why are you asking?" Mai shuffled awkwardly.

"Um. No reason, really. I just couldn't help thinking about it, and John seemed kind of tired before we left. Since we finished this case and we don't have meetings with clients planned for another couple of weeks, I thought maybe we could help." Naru wasn't convinced. Maybe he really had noticed she was tired.

"That's not all there is. You look as though you didn't sleep at all." He turned back to her, letting his office door shut behind him. It was true that she hadn't slept much after that dream woke her at 3 am, but that wasn't the tone of a concerned coworker or friend. That was the tone of someone determined to get what they want, and Naru wanted an explanation.

"I may have had one of my dreams last night, but I couldn't really make sense of it. I just had this really strong feeling that it was related to John's case, and-" At this point, Mai trailed off, trying to put the feeling into words. She didn't really understand what was happening in the dream at all. All she could say is that there is possibly someone bringing ball-jointed dolls to life, and that puts John in danger somehow. There doesn't even seem to be any dolls involved with John's case, but her instincts weren't often wrong about this kind of thing. One hand pressed over her heart, she continued with decisive confidence. "There's just something about that case that feels off. I don't have evidence beyond my intuition, but John is in danger and something from his case is the cause."

A polite knock interrupted them before Naru could respond. Mai darted forward to open the door, giving Naru an imploring look as she passed. The message was obvious. _Please. Think about it._ Opening the door revealed the young exorcist in question. "Please forgive my intrusion. Is Lin here?"  
"John, good morning! Lin's in his office. Why don't you sit down while I go get him? You look really tired." Opportunity spotted, Mai managed to maneuver John to the couch before he could protest, less than subtly putting him right in front of Naru. By this point, it was obvious John was exhausted even though he did his best not to let it show. Shadows darkened normally bright blue eyes, emphasizing how pale the Australian was becoming. Despite still keeping a politely straight posture, he seemed almost completely drained of energy. Still startled by Mai's sudden not quite manhandling, John was left sitting awkwardly in front of Naru. "Um. Good morning, Shibuya-san."

"John." The greeting was accompanied by a short nod, not offering room to start conversation. For a moment, Mai worried Naru would reject her unspoken request and leave for his office. However, Naru simply flipped open one of his note books and leaned against the wall. Mai smiled in relief before knocking on the door to Lin's office.

"Lin? John's here. I think it's about his case." The tall Chinese man quietly opened the door and nodded. His black hair had long bangs that covered his right eye, hiding that it was an icy blue rather than the same cool gray as his left. He picked up his laptop, and took a seat on the couch across from John.

Mai did her best not to hover. At first, she made tea and coffee, setting drinks down for the two as they spoke quietly. Photos were lined up on the table. They looked to be of some sort of burn, each differing in severity but matching in shape. _That looks like the kanji for soul._

"It doesn't act like a normal illness, but it doesn't seem like the work of an angry spirit either. That's why I suspected it may be some sort of curse. If that's the case, would it be possible to help the victims recover?"He accepted the cup of tea she set down in front of him, smiling gratefully. "Thank you, Mai."

"It's possible." Lin nodded once as she set down a mug of black coffee, eyes still locked on the photographs. Mai drew away again, trying not to blatantly eavesdrop. Naru had no such qualms, having chosen a place near enough to listen casually as he flipped through his notes. His tea sat on the corner of her desk beside him, where he would occasionally stop to take a sip. Mai finished cleaning and took a seat at her desk. _It's really hard not to listen in when I have nothing to do._ _If this were during a school year, I would try to distract myself with homework... and I would probably get none of it done._ Mai sighed quietly and contemplated if she should pull out the fantasy novel she was using to practice reading English. Apparently, Naru was done with simply listening.

"You are usually better at asking for help when you are in over your head, especially when someone could be hurt. What's different about this case?" Lin raised a brow at Naru's sudden intrusion, but remained silent. John looked surprised for a moment, glancing between Mai and Naru before answering the question.

"The case already seems to be mostly complete. There seems to be no more victims, and we are outside the predicted time range for a new victim to appear." Naru nodded at John's explanation.

"Yet, you still have misgivings about the case." John flushed slightly in embarrassment, likely due to his doubts being so obvious. His response was slightly hesitant.

"Yes. There was differing opinions between another exorcist working on the case and myself. We couldn't confirm the source of what was happening, and now that it appears to have stopped- Father Carelli believes the source was destroyed when it failed its attack on the most recent victim, but I am still concerned. He is leaving in a couple weeks to officially confirm the case as closed, yet none of the victims have recovered. I would rather not go behind his back on the matter, but I've known the families of some of the victims for a few years now. It doesn't seem right to leave the victims as they are." Now, John was blatantly embarrassed. For Mai, it was strange to hear John was so at odds with another investigator. Even during their first case, John showed deference towards other members of the team. Considering John's embarrassment about talking about it, he probably wasn't particularly happy with this conflict either. Mai was curious, though.

"So how do you know it stopped if you couldn't agree on the source?" It seemed she hit the nail on the head. John shuffled awkwardly as a major part of his conflict with Carelli was pointed out.

"It's more suspected than confirmed. The most recent attempt, the one that seemed to stop the problem, was on Ms. Elizabeth Saunders. Ms. Saunders' parents brought her to the clinic after noticing the fatigue, and she was confirmed as one of the victims when the mark began to show up. However, it's been almost a year since then and the regular time frame seems to be seven to ten months." Naru seemed to come to some sort of conclusion, radiating authority as he stood over John.

"Start from the beginning. Don't leave anything out." Mai had to fight back the urge to cheer, but John didn't seem as thrilled.

"You're investigating?" John sounds slightly worried, and Mai can't tell if it's from sitting under the full force of Naru's scrutiny or from inadvertently becoming a client. Admittedly, Naru usually needs a lot of convincing to take on a case, and John couldn't know that Mai already requested he join the investigation.

"We'll investigate if there is a way for the victims to recover. In order to do that, we need an accurate evaluation of the cause, but make no mistake. I won't get involved in your dispute with Carelli, and I won't waste time if there is nothing to be done." Somewhat surprisingly, John seemed to be relieved that Naru would refuse to work further on the case if there was nothing to be done. _It makes sense, though. It sounds like John is hoping to give this case closure. Finding the source and possibly a way to help the victims will do a lot more for that than just saying the activity stopped._ As for his conflict with the other exorcist- _John doesn't want to have a conflict in the first place. He definitely doesn't want us getting in the middle and taking sides in this one. I can't help but wonder, though. If this exorcist is arguing with John of all people, what's going to happen if he meets Naru?_ John's earlier worry made a lot more sense.

"Alright" With that, John began to explain.


End file.
